What is Google-Flights-Search-Spackle?

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Google.

Bot name
Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Operator
Google
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Google-Flights-Search-Spackle

Google's user-triggered fetcher for flight search. Fetches airline and travel site content on behalf of end-user searches to compile flight pricing and availability data.

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle user agent

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Google-Flights-Search-Spackle

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Google-Flights-Search-Spackle follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle from the whole site

User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Disallow: /

Block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle from some folders

User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow Google-Flights-Search-Spackle only on some folders

User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow Google-Flights-Search-Spackle and block other crawlers

User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle group, Google-Flights-Search-Spackle ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Google-Flights-Search-Spackle from Google-Flights-Search-Spackle's user agent; check Google's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. Google-Flights-Search-Spackle may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Google-Flights-Search-Spackle follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Google-Flights-Search-Spackle's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Google's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Google-Flights-Search-Spackle from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about Google-Flights-Search-Spackle

Publishers

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle brings search traffic, so keep the real one allowed. Fake Google-Flights-Search-Spackle requests are a common cover for scrapers, so verify it by network rather than by name.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Search crawlers fetch landing pages to check them. Keep Google-Flights-Search-Spackle allowed, but out of campaign and conversion data.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle indexes products for search results. Allow it, and block impersonators that use its name to scrape prices.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow Google-Flights-Search-Spackle on marketing and docs pages, and keep it off signed-in app pages it cannot use.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Google-Flights-Search-Spackle by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control Google-Flights-Search-Spackle on your site

  • See every Google-Flights-Search-Spackle visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit Google-Flights-Search-Spackle with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is Google-Flights-Search-Spackle?

Google-Flights-Search-Spackle is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Google. Google's user-triggered fetcher for flight search. Fetches airline and travel site content on behalf of end-user searches to compile flight pricing and availability data.

Does Google-Flights-Search-Spackle respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Google-Flights-Search-Spackle follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle?

Add "User-agent: Google-Flights-Search-Spackle" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "Google-Flights-Search-Spackle" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so Google-Flights-Search-Spackle may not follow it, and anyone can send Google-Flights-Search-Spackle's user agent, so a fake Google-Flights-Search-Spackle ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block Google-Flights-Search-Spackle?

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

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See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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